quête:fi

Lady Jane Beach land on Slacker 85 with their lo-slung label debut, ‘Binman’. A short, sharp shot of minimal rhythm and rhyme, ‘Binman’ is the sound of the enigmatic London-based trio soundtracking their trips around the capital’s outer ringroads seeking adventure, trouble and corrupted drum machines. Blessed with loose, confident production and verses like glue, Slacker boss Seth Troxler doubles down on his support with a beefed-up, roadtested club edit.

An undisputed trailblazer of UK rave, Zed Bias fires up his studio for two contrasting takes on ‘Binman’, each capturing split sides of the soundsystem culture he helped define. Zed’s ‘Weighty Dub’ goes unapologetically raw, transitioning between skippy beats, heavy bass drops and a fusebox melody out of the darkness. From the basement straight through to the beach club, the ‘Nostalgia Mix’ makes good on its promise of misty-eyed reverie, recalling the first-wave of UKG domination with lush strings and steppin’ drums that still sound like a bright future.

From one generation to the next, fast-rising DJ and producer HalfPint is already familiar to dancers of Circoloco's famed Terrace and Garden. His take on ‘Binman’ finds a fresh frequency, converting the rhymes of the original into a precision-tooled tech house groove, primed for the summer season.

Continuing Blueprint's 30th anniversary celebrations, James Ruskin welcomes the return of Oliver Ho, whose relationship with the label is deep-rooted.

Oliver Ho has spent the last 30 years devoting his life to creating some of the most intense and compelling electronic music out there. Debuting his signature raw sound in 1996 on Blueprint Records, he cemented himself in the underground of the '90s UK techno scene. With a plethora of aliases, he has navigated his way through many different genres. From the frenetic tribal sounds of his own Meta imprint, the off the wall house music made as Birdland and Raudive, the grinding industrial of Broken English Club and the heavily textured ambient of his Slow White Fall and Zov Zov projects. While pushing and pulling at the fringes of electronic music, at the very centre has always been the beating heart of hypnotic techno, an art form that is both brutal and bewitching; techno as ritual magic. Oliver's live shows and DJ sets showcase this expression of music as shamanic experience, metallic and relentless, pure and direct.

An integral figure in shaping Blueprint's early sound, Oliver Ho returned in 2016 for their 20th anniversary with the "Burning Heretics EP", which was followed by a remastered reissue of 1999's "Awakening The Sentient". So it's fitting that he's now back for this latest milestone with a new EP, "Our Secret Religion" dropping in May.

Rigetto is a natural reflex of expulsion, and it is from this concept that the label is inspired.

Founded by DJ and producer CUT, aka Luca D'Elia Fiorenzano, Rigetto is a personal and direct space where sound becomes a silent way of exposing oneself. More than a defined genre, it is an attitude: a techno free from rigid structures, influenced by human movement, interaction, and the surrounding sonic matter, where elements of techno, ambient, and natural soundscapes meet and transform.

The first release, Rigetto 01, represents the starting point of this path: a first statement of intent that introduces the label's sonic identity, made of essential rhythms, subtle tensions, and immersive atmospheres where sound becomes a physical and perceptual experience.

Kreng transports us through the swirling darkness and into the unknown with “Wormhole”, his first album in over a decade.

What does a trip towards another world sound like? We’re about to find out. The master of tension, melancholy, and the deranged is back after a long period working in the worlds of theatre and cinema. Last seen on Miasmah with the grief stricken The Summoner, Kreng now returns with Wormhole, following closer in the footsteps of the cult classics L’Autopsie Phénoménale de Dieu and Grimoire.

Starting with “You Are Here”, the listener travels through a vacuum of spacious minimalism and edge-of-your-seat tension. Within the journey, we are pulled and lured towards a mystic inner core and beyond, encountering drifting fragments of old-world nostalgia on the way: echoes of empty jazz bars sit alongside hellish, Hieronymus Bosch-like scenarios.

Surrendering to the album reveals a surprisingly reflective beauty beneath its darkness; it's a true home-listening gem that unfolds like a Lovecraftian cosmic horror-mystery in the way only Kreng could deliver. Forget everything you know and enter the secret door…

London DJ/producer WILL B. and singer/songwriter YEUKAI fuse diverse influences to birth a truly special debut. Thick, soulful organ & ethereal vocals take this one so deep it should come with a lifeguard. Remixes from GLENN UNDERGROUND & ORLANDO VOORN make this an instant classic.

Art Bound launches its label with Ghost Signal Theory, a split EP by Brazilian producer Artürst and Georgian producer Toke, exploring a dark, progressive and electro-oriented sound where each track develops its own atmosphere while contributing to the overall flow and cohesion of the project.

Side A features Artürst with two tracks blending progressive grooves with layered textures and subtle acid-infused elements, delivering a hypnotic drive built for peak-time sets.

Side B is a three-tracker exploring Toke’s take on the Tbilisi underground, moving through high-energy electro and trance-infused passages, before closing with a deeper broken rhythm that shifts the pace and brings the journey into a more contemplative space, offering a final moment of suspension.

In a year which marks the 40th anniversary since the initial formation - under the moniker of Black Death - of what would subsequently grow into influential genre legends, 2026 marks the return of the imperishable Norwegian duo of Fenriz & Nocturno Culto for their new opus of high calibre old metal, under the banner of ‘Pre-Historic Metal’. As Fenriz himself proclaims of the title’s symbolic origin, “Prehistoric is a loose term. I just figure it’s our VIBE, our take on things & it’s more a statement that we use old style to create something new”.

‘Pre-Historic Metal’ contains eight tracks of primal epics & gargantuan riffs with organic sound & the ever-present permeating spirit of the 70’s & 80’s, for a new continuation of the mastery witnessed on 2024’s ‘It Beckons Us All’. This next chapter in Darkthrone’s extensive & ongoing catalogue presents a vast odyssey through the sonic landscapes of Thrash, Black, Heavy & Doom Metal &, adorned with a punishing & “in your face” guitar presence, Darkthrone stirs the cauldron of savage creativity with a nod to the writing methods which were indicative of their earlier works of the late 80’s, but with a more refined craft.

'Pre-Historic Metal' was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios, Oslo, with production work conducted by Ole Øvstedal, Silje Høgevold & Mads Luis. Mastering was carried out by Jack Control at Enormous Door, & Maor Appelbaum Mastering.

This edition of 'Pre-Historic Metal' is presented on black vinyl.

Synopsis: Kagome, a modern-day schoolgirl, is transported to feudal Japan and frees Inuyasha, a half-demon. Together, they seek the shattered shards of the Shikon Jewel, desired by demons. Along their journey, they face fierce enemies, forge deep friendships, and discover a growing love amidst their perilous quest. This album features the best openings and endings from Inuyasha. Performed by iconic J-pop artists, these songs blend emotion, nostalgia, and energy. A must-have compilation for fans of the anime.

Italian producer Gledd has been quietly carving out a reputation for groove-led house music that balances raw dancefloor energy with rich musicality.

Drawing on influences that span gospel, afrobeat, and classic deep house, his productions channel both heritage and forward-thinking club culture. My House Is Your Church marks his debut release on Delusions Of Grandeur - a fitting home for his expansive, souldrenched sound - and signals a bold new chapter in his evolution as an artist. The EP opens with On His Way, a percussion-heavy deep roller built for maximum dancefloor impact. Anchored by fat, heavyweight production and a massive low-end presence, the track surges forward with relentless energy. An incredible gospel vocal cuts through the mix, elevating the groove into something transcendent - equal parts spiritual and physical.

On It’s Not That Easy, Gledd leans further into his gospel house influences. Highimpact and rhythmically rich, the track weaves together organ fills and subtle tropical flourishes, creating a vibrant, sun-soaked energy while keeping the pressure firmly on the floor.

It’s a track that feels both uplifting and commanding. Flipping to the B-side, Habibi Gospel pushes into more “outernational” territory. A wild, expressive lead vocal takes center stage, riding atop a heavy, driving groove. Organ stabs punctuate the rhythm, locking dancers into a hypnotic flow that bridges cultures and styles with effortless confidence. Closing the EP, Can You Hear My Noise? brings things to a richly textured finale. Slightly more organic in feel, it blends echoing synth stabs, percussive melodic lines, and chopped vocals into a melting pot of sound. The result is a seamless fusion of gospel, afrobeat, and classic house - deep, emotive, and undeniably danceable. With My House Is Your Church, Gledd delivers a statement of intent: music as ritual, the dancefloor as sanctuary.

"Know Your Toms", it struck us that we have in our collections a number of amazing releases from artists writing deep and underground house music all going by the name Tom. The mission - to collect a track from each of them and make the kind of release which finds its way into only the best record collections. Tom Lown records as Lucky Sun and runs his own label of the same name. His track "Tomcat" is deep, pad drenched house for when the sun is out and the dancefloor is heating up.

Tom Gilbert is a master at crafting melody-rich, future-facing electronic music that's as timeless as it is tuneful, atmospheric and pleasingly nostalgic as can be heard in his track "Tom & Roland". Tom Churchill is a Scottish-based electronic music DJ, producer, and label owner involved in the scene since the mid-90s, his track "Backwards Glance" is his trademark deep house at its finest.

Tom (Shur-i-kan) Szirtes needs no introduction and has produced the kind of track which lights up the dance floor in a peak time house set, "Round Robin" is an instant classic. Between them they have been signed to the cream of the crop in underground house labels: Freerange, Headspace, We're Going Deep, Winding Road, Innate, Tronicsole, M>O>S, Nordic Trax, DiY Discs, Echocentric, Lost My Dog, 2Sox, Distant Worlds. The EP Comes on eco marbled vinyl, with "Know Your Toms" sticker and insert which is a guide to identifying the different types of Toms out there. A limited run of T-shirts available from Fourier Transforms Bandcamp

Strain presents its second vinyl release: a five-track VA exploring different moments of the dancefloor, from early tension to peak-time intensity. The record brings together producers from Argentina, Italy, and Uruguay, connecting distinct scenes and sensibilities within a cohesive sonic journey.

Italian producer Gledd has been quietly carving out a reputation for groove-led house music that balances raw dancefloor energy with rich musicality. Drawing on influences that span gospel, afrobeat, and classic deep house, his productions channel both heritage and forward-thinking club culture. My House Is Your Church marks his debut release on Delusions Of Grandeur - a fitting home for his expansive, souldrenched sound - and signals a bold new chapter in his evolution as an artist.

The EP opens with On His Way, a percussion-heavy deep roller built for maximum dancefloor impact. Anchored by fat, heavyweight production and a massive low-end presence, the track surges forward with relentless energy. An incredible gospel vocal cuts through the mix, elevating the groove into something transcendent - equal parts spiritual and physical. On It’s Not That Easy, Gledd leans further into his gospel house influences. Highimpact and rhythmically rich, the track weaves together organ fills and subtle tropical flourishes, creating a vibrant, sun-soaked energy while keeping the pressure firmly on the floor.

It’s a track that feels both uplifting and commanding. Flipping to the B-side, Habibi Gospel pushes into more “outernational” territory. A wild, expressive lead vocal takes center stage, riding atop a heavy, driving groove. Organ stabs punctuate the rhythm, locking dancers into a hypnotic flow that bridges cultures and styles with effortless confidence. Closing the EP, Can You Hear My Noise? brings things to a richly textured finale. Slightly more organic in feel, it blends echoing synth stabs, percussive melodic lines, and chopped vocals into a melting pot of sound. The result is a seamless fusion of gospel, afrobeat, and classic house - deep, emotive, and undeniably danceable. With My House Is Your Church, Gledd delivers a statement of intent: music as ritual, the dancefloor as sanctuary.

On the label's latest, Oath are proud to present 'Times', the latest morphological masterclass from Ukrainian producer extrodinaire Vakula, on which his boundless and intuitively captivating sound remains as absorbing as ever.

Drawing deeply from a rich palette of genres such as deep house, ambient, dub techno, and jazz, and feeding in inspirations from natural and philosophical spheres, Vakula's musical ethos has allowed him to continuously explore the inner and outer reaches of his universal soundscape. By feeling things out through hardware, he allows his music to grow organically, blending humanistic tendencies with technological outputs that always bring harmonious musical riches to the surface.
'Times' represents another seismic chapter in his story, one which contains a series of genre-defying blends that twist, turn, and enthrall with their ever-evolving beauty. 'Atmos Time' plays out as the EP opens up, and draws the listener close with a textured melodic chime and spaced out groove.

Floating along on a bed of cosmic ambience, the groove and melodic features cascade as one, drifting further through the layers of time and thought. 'Break Time' ups the urgency ever so slightly, with a similar atmosphere unraveling above an energised broken beat.
'Drum Time' brings in side B, and this one shifts perspective once more. The melodic sways up above merge and blend with the poly-rhythmic undertones, with the jungle-lite broken beat creating an enchanting energy. 'Soul Time' wraps things up, which moves into a distinctly ambient techno sort of realm. Dreamy pads and looping key lines intertwine amongst a captivating sea of mood and tone, as a laid-back beat shimmers underneath with poise and elegance. . A fitting end to a record filled with moments of tonal excellence, ever-shifting melodic feeling and rhythmic sequencing - an experience that forever drifts through the memory, always capturing the imagination….

Passages in Time, the third album from Kasper Bjørke Quartet, traces the contours of a blend of spiritual jazz reverence and the calming grandeur of '80s ambient. Inspired by Christopher Nolan's observation that "time is the most fundamental part of our human experience," the compositions are approached as fragments of time and memory. Meditations on the elusive nature of time form the heart of the work, merging freeform jazz improvisations with cyclical synthesizer patterns that mirror its quiet undulations.
Dreamy synths intertwine with guitar, harp, trumpet, flugelhorn, saxophone, and flute, creating a spacious environment for contemplation. The music invites reflection on the choices that shape our lives and the lives of those closest to us, and on the quiet weight of our priorities within the brief span we call life on this planet. Each passage unfolds as a fleeting moment suspended in time. The subtitles hint at fragments from someone's diary, tender observations of love, parenthood, and connection. Together, the passages form a musical memoir of sorts, where memory and emotion are gently woven into the compositions.
Passages in Time does not impose structure or meaning, it reflects them, offering an open space as the instruments drift in and out of focus, tracing time's subtle rhythms and inviting the listener to infuse their own memories and meaning into these passages.
The album also marks a transformation for the Quartet project itself. Langstrakt (Claus Noreen), part of the original ensemble, continues to operate the synthesizers alongside Bjørke, while the wider constellation of contributing musicians has evolved. Strings and piano give way to flute and saxophone by Oilly Wallace, guitars by Danish ambient composer Anna Roemer, trumpet and flugelhorn by Malthe Kaptain, and cascading orchestral harp by Katie Buckley, principal harpist with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra.
The cover painting is by American artist Marcus Leslie Singleton, courtesy of V1 Gallery, and reflects the meditative and timeless atmosphere of the music.
Passages in Time is released on Bjørke's own imprint, Sensitive Records, following the two previous Quartet albums released on Kompakt Records: The Fifty Eleven Project (2018), a debut that introduced Bjørke's ambient and neoclassical explorations, and Mother (2022), which expanded the ensemble's sound with emotive choir compositions and guest appearance by Sofie Birch (Unsound / Stroom). Together, these three albums trace a journey of artistic growth, from introspective experimentation to a fully realized, contemplative expression of time, memory, and human connection.

Dive into the depths of the SUNKEN SCORES which is the new concept album by Japanese Rare Groove trio Nautilus from Toyko. What is called lost themes and jazzy seaquences from the cinematic coastlines ends in a journey through different eras of film and television music.
It's their fourth album release on Oonops Drops besides several limited 7inch releases. Like all other releases on the label, this LP is also pressed on recycled vinyl . There will be an extended Germany tour by Nautilus from 8th May to 4th June from the North Sea Coast to the mountains in the Allgäu. / Promo: feature in Jazzthing magazine at the end of May.

Primordial Mind forms the mysteries and intensity of inner life into eight mandalic instrumentals where Mas Aya and Khôra, artists who share 15 years of music making, orchestrate an inspired, prismatic palette of percussive and melodic sources. Each composition presented stages a vigorous meshwork of colours and textures, contrasting riveting polyrhythms with towering arrangements for flutes, synths, and processed acoustic instruments. Tendencies which the artists trace in their solo practices are amplified, blended, and refracted sublimely in unison, serving as energetic portals to the collective awareness.

Combining trans-ethnic scaling alongside a heady brew of rhythmic influences and advanced electronic processing, the recordings on this album operate with a tactility that vaults between free jazz, dub, raga, ambient, and ritual music. Assimilated powers of primal drum patterning and psychoactive, ceremonial melodies, invoke fourth world adjacencies with the work of Don Cherry, Jon Hassell, Popol Vuh et al. There is an alchemical, Buddhist/Taoist/Hindu inflection that guides the record’s narrative, formed through dialogue between the artists over lifelong shared interest in spiritual modalities generally and the tantric approaches of the global east in particular. The album title is derived from an unexcelled esoteric work known as the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time)Tantra and its associated commentary the Ornament of Stainless Light which detail forms of inner and outer transubstantiation within its complex cosmology and metaphysiology.

Mas Aya is the moniker of Brandon Miguel Valdivia, acclaimed Nicaraguan-Canadian composer, producer, and musician whose electronic and jazz inspired works creatively interlace Colombian, Cuban, and a wide array of traditional music. Khôra is the name of the occult entity that uses multi-instrumentalist, producer, and writer Matthew Ramolo to pronounce itself. Returning to Marionette following 2024's monumental Gestures of Perception, Primordial Mind reinforces the rigorous and magical approach to creation which defines Khôra’s two decades of sonic output. Brandon and Matthew met back in 2011 and the pair toured around eastern Europe with Toronto band Picastro in 2013, also performing as a duo with Brandon contributing drums to Khôra's opening sets. After a short spate composing and playing in the ensemble Bespoken together, they continued to discover shared inspiration in psych/art rock, jazz, experimental and electronic music, providing a fertile soil for friendship and collaboration resulting in their collaged, lo-fi album Tangled Roots in 2017. Mythic and talismanic, the duo's Marionette debut weaves a luminous tapestry of organic pulses, offering itself as a support for resonant meditation and a motor for lucid action and intuition.

Brandon Miguel Valdivia: Percussion, Flutes, Log Drum, Korg Lambda, Angklung, Tambor Alegre, Udu
Matthew Ramolo: Modular Synth, Archival Samples, Angklung, Guitar, Duduk, Bass, Percussion, Arrangements and Mix

The endless world of ’80s Italo music offers us yet another previously unreleased gem; Caroline Vita’s “Out Of Order” has been rediscovered in the tape archives of the Interbeat catalog, recently acquired by Cinedelic, of which Mondo Groove is a sublabel. The British-born singer performed the song at numerous festivals of the time (1983) that were broadcast on Italy’s national television network, RAI.

The separate tracks allowed DELPHI (Tiger & Woods) to remix it in the style he felt was most fitting: Italo Funk and early New Jersey Freestyle.

Munich's machine enthusiasts 9ms return to Squama with their third album 'Lunch'.
More heterogenic than its predecessors, the album incorporates Dub-infused IDM, cinematic slow jams and off-kilter drum workouts giving the daring DJ plenty of material to treat dancefloors and listening rooms alike.
On their previous albums Pleats (2021) and II (2023) Florian König and Simon Popp mapped out the musical symbiosis between man and machine, using motion sensors to translate their bodies' movement while playing drums into sound. On Lunch the conceptual centerpiece is the pendulum. Neither man, nor machine, its steady movement is converted into analog voltage with what's called a gyroscope, allowing it to trigger and control any parameter in the duo's setup.
The album was conceived over the course of a year in weekly morning sessions that had to be wrapped up by lunch due to family obligations. The temporal limits, as paradoxically is often the case, turned out to be quite liberating and resulted in a more playful and fearless process.
"We worked pretty efficiently, but since there was no deadline for the album to be finished, the whole process felt very light". The duo also freed themselves from the limitations of having a recording setup that's reproducible for touring.
"We didn't think about the live aspect at all this time." So for every session they would choose from a wide array of instruments and machines, an abundance that has inspired the record's artwork, overflowing with words from the list of gear used on the record.
Sonically, 9ms keep on forging their own niche with thick, compressed drums set against wide stereo-processed soundscapes and a genuine curiosity that's pleasantly contagious.